Improvement in refining hydrocarbon oils



W. ARCHER.

Refining Oil.

Patented Sept. 27. 1864.

Witnesses AM P HOTO-LlTHO. CO. N.Y. (OSBORNES PROCESS.) I

shaft? by means of gearing and pulley or UNITED STATES WILLIAM ARCHER, OF NEW YORK, WM. P. DOWNER,

PATENT OFFICE.

N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND OF SAME PLACE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,481, dated September 27, 1864.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ARCHER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new Method of Refining Hydrocarbon Oils; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon. v

It is well known that hydrocarbon oils are best purified by bringing them in contact with acids and alkalies. The method heretofore employed for accomplishing this object has been by means of heaters or agitators working among the oil and acids or alkalies; but this means in many respects has proven not entirely effectual and satisfactory on account of the greater density and specific gravity of the acid over the oil, which prevents a great portion of the oil from coming in contact with the acid. The nature of my invention is to entirely obviate this objection; and it consists in bringing, by means of centrifugal action, a continuously-flowing thin sheet of hydrocarbon oil in constant and complete contact with a surrounding body of sulphuric acid or other purifying liquid.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will. proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The drawing shown is a sectional View.

I conrtruct a tub or cistern, as shown by letter A, of cast-iron or of any other suitable material, of any convenient cylindrical shape and size. The interior portion of this tub or cistern, as well as all parts of the apparatus which may come in contact with the purifying liquid employed, must be covered with lead in order to avoid the action of the said liquid. Across the top of this cistern I place a cross piece, I, of metal or wood, securely fastened at each side upon the rim of the cistern, and wide enough to carry the usual adjuncts for producing the rotation of the upright hollow cran as shown by letters h, and s. The said hollow shaft is provided at the point where it passes through the crosspiece p with a collar, which is secured upon the shaft by a screw, and which is made to bear easily upon the cross-piece and prevents the shaft from I binding upon the pulley-gearing, as also from l running too close to the floor of the cistern. The hollow shaft is also provided at its lower end with a metallic horizontal inverted saucer or disk, 0, whose diameter is from half an inch to two inches less than the inner diameter of the cistern. Below this disk about oneinch, and connected with the same bymetallic pins '0 v, is another flat disk, It, provided with the center hole, x,whosc diameter is less than that of the upper disk by about one-third, and this lower disk is raised from the floor of the cistern about one inch.

NVhen I wish to operate this apparatus, I first close the aperture E with a wooden or other suitable plug. I then let into the cistern enough sulphuric acid or other refining-liquid to completely submerge the upper disk. I then put the shaft in rapid motion by means of the driving apparatus before described. When sufficient speed has been attained, the oil to be refined is run into the upper end of the shaft. This oil, when it reaches the disk, is thrown out upon the lower face of the upper disk in a thin sheet or film, exposing it to the volume of )urifying-liquid, which, as often as displaced by the centrifugal motion imparted to it, rises in a current from the floor to the central aperture in the lower disk. The purifying-liquid, by reason of its greater specific gravity, always retains its desired place at the bottom of the Vessel; but the oil, as fast as cleansed by its complete contact with the refining element, rises to the surface of the same and is discharged at the spout f. YVhen the purifying character of the refiningliquid has become palpably exhausted, the motion of the shaft is stopped, the plug at E is removed, and the impure contents of the cistern are withdrawn.

What I claim as my invention, and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The arrangement of machinery by which a thin sheet or film of hydrocarbon oil is by centrifugal action continuously made to flow over, and to become thoroughly permeated and cleansed by a volume of sulphuric acid or other purifying element, in manner as described.

IVILLIAM ARCHER. Vitnesses:

WM. H. McGEn, J. TUGWELL, Jr. 

